Dependence in a Micronesian economy

Abstract

The inadequacy of the assumptions and implied policies of the modernization paradigm has led to a reaction against it by dependency theorists. Two major weaknesses of dependency theory are that it assumes a single kind of exploitative relation between rich and poor nations and that it fails to analyze the economic strategies of village people in dependent areas. Micronesia represents a form of dependency in which exploitation by capitalist powers is insignificant, but the population is dependent upon wages earned by employees of the United States government. Through an examination of Kosrae Island, the processes through which stagnation is exacerbated by the influence of these wages on economic choices are identified.